Ornithophobia – Are you scared of Birds?

Ornithophobia – Are you scared of Birds?

Are you scared of birds? Do you feel unsafe while you are around the birds? Do you think they might harm you or they may eat your food? A phobia is an absurd fear about features, objects or animals that are out of your control.The fear of bird is called Ornithophobia. It makes the victim uncomfortable when he is around birds. The person starts freaking out when birds are around them. They feel that they might be harmed by dangerous birds like vultures, eagles, etc. Sometimes, people may even get scared of domestic and harmless birds also like pigeons, sparrows, crows and others.

If your phobia keeps you away from going to work in the morning or you take the longer route just to avoid confronting a flock of birds, then your fear is affecting your life, and you should consider getting help from a health care professional.

Sometimes in TV channels the youngsters may find a carnivorous bird attacking small preys like rabbits and rats and this can grow as an imbued fear in their minds, so they wish to stay away from birds. This may develop Ornithophobia in a child’s mind. Sometimes birds also fly inside the homes through an open window or door, causing disturbance. For this, the parents often get worried and annoyed, which also triggers anxiety attacks on the child’s mind.

Ornithophobia symptoms can be categorized mostly as mental, physical, and emotional- like:

People will refuse to eat in an open place where the birds are present because they feel their food may be eaten up by the birds.

They are afraid of the birds who are preserved in museums. Even taxidermy of dead birds and photos or feathers of birds might scare them off.

They may experience fear, rapid heartbeat and sweating, feeling weak when any bird is around them.

Effects on life

People with Ornithophobia gradually restrict their activities. They would avoid picnics and other outside activities. They would not visit pet stores and will be afraid to leave their house for fear of confronting any birds. People with severe bird-phobias not only confine themselves to their homes, but are even afraid of opening windows and doors. Actually the victims of bird-phobia are afraid of the fluttering sounds of the wings and the feathers of the birds.

Treatment

The treatment of Ornithophobia is essential if it makes one anxious or depressed of birds all the time. It needs a professional treatment. If the case is mild then one should help themselves by meditation or by realizing the fact that all birds are not scary nor dangerous. Often controlled deep breathing should make them understand that there is nothing to scare get perpetually scared of birds.

Apart from this, Ornithophobics can also take the help of a trained psychotherapist. They can help Ornithophobic patients to control their fears, by replacing their negative thoughts with more positive fear free ideas. Show the Ornithophobics clinical techniques to relax and how to reduce their level of anxiety. So that they slowly gain confidence. Some Ornithophobics are also made to come to terms with their unnatural fears by reintroducing them in company of safe, gentle birds.

In severe case, hypnosis or medications may be used to recover these hapless birds fearing patients faster. To do this, the bird fearing persons should talk with their therapist about the real causes behind their Ornithophobic syndromes. It is only this confession that can help the Ornithophobics to aid them recover from their bird related anxieties. Psychological counselling like this can not only reach at the root of the disease, but it can also release the tension by gaining a perspective of the psychological ailment. Psychiatrists can help these Ornithophobic patients often by teaching them certain deep relaxation techniques to calm their nerves during their subsequent physical introduction to safe and gentle birds. It has been clinically found that by practicing this adjusting-to-fear therapy for an extended period of time, can help many a one feel the difference between a panic attack and a simple discomforts in their lives.